1. Field of the Disclosed Technology
The disclosed device relates generally to utility pedestals, for example, enclosures for housing various pieces of utility equipment such as computers, controllers, data-loggers, batteries, sensors, and/or transmitters and receivers. The disclosed device may house, for example, equipment for control and/or monitoring of irrigation, power generation, power supply, lighting, alarms, traffic control, environmental testing, or other utilities or services. More specifically, the disclosed utility pedestal comprises adaptations for tamper- and vandalism-resistance, and for improved access to the housed utility equipment during maintenance, data- or sample-retrieval, and/or equipment switch-out.
2. Related Art
Many devices conventionally called “utility pedestals” are used in commerce and utility services, and many are portrayed in the patent literature. These utility pedestals, however, are typically box-like “cabinets”, containing the utility equipment and having a door at a side of the cabinet. The door is typically locked by a lock that is exposed at the outside of the cabinet and therefore visible and accessible to vandals.
To access the equipment inside a conventional utility pedestal, an authorized technician unlocks the easily-accessible lock, opens the door, and reaches into the interior of the cabinet to try to reach and service the equipment therein. Typically, the technician must bend over or even kneel, in order to be at a level where he/she can reach into the cabinet. This conventional utility pedestal technology may be summarized as easy to vandalize and damage, and yet difficult to maintain and repair because the equipment contained therein is so difficult to reach and to see.